1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle rear monitor for monitoring a rear side of a vehicle through a camera.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, there has been disclosed a device capable of processing an image captured by one or more cameras so as to convert the image into a virtual view (referred to as a “top-down view” hereunder) of a viewpoint perpendicularly looking down from above a vehicle (e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 3-99952). This device fills spots which would otherwise become blind spots of a vehicle when only captured by a camera, and allows a driver to precisely build a sense of distance. Further, there has also been disclosed a device capable of processing a captured image so as to covert the image into a virtual view (referred to as a “perspective view” hereunder) of a viewpoint obliquely looking down at the ground from above a vehicle (e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-219411). Particularly, this device allows an image output unit thereof to display a wide view approximate to a human viewpoint obliquely looking down at the ground.
Further, when putting a vehicle into a garage, the device disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-219411, precisely switches between the top-down view and the perspective view in accordance with a change in a vehicle position or the like with respect to a parking space. Particularly, an image switching unit allows the image output unit to display the perspective view when a gear detection unit has detected that a back gear is selected through a transmission. However, the type of view displayed on the image output unit is switched to the top-down view through the image switching unit, when the gear detection unit has detected that the back gear is selected through the transmission and a steering angle detection unit has detected that a steering angle of a steering wheel is not smaller than a given angle.
The aforementioned devices allow a user to freely select as well as view any one of the normal view with a horizontal angle of view of about 130°, the wide view with a horizontal angle of view of about 180° which is larger than that of the normal view, the top-down view and the perspective view.